IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

PrePrint: Structure, Technology, and Development of the AEG-Telefunken TR 440 Computer

In 1970, when it was installed at the University of Bochum, AEG-Telefunken TR 440 was the most powerful computer which ever had been developed and manufactured in Europe. During the seventies, 45 systems were installed, mainly for scientific computing. TR 440 was the successor of TR 4, but introduced paging, multiple modes of operation, multiprocessing, vastly extended memory, and satellite configurations. TR 440 also came with very innovative system software. The development of a successor was ceased as a result of the merger of the AEG-Telefunken Large Scale Computer Department with Siemens.

PrePrint: From Art Form to Engineering Discipline?: A History of U.S. Military Software Development Standards, 1974-1998

From the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) attempted to enforce software standards for the development of its defense systems. The history if this efforts played out as a struggle for control between the DoD and its contractors in the software and aerospace industries. The industry did not oppose software development standardization per se, but often objected to the specifics of the military's standards. Many software developers, however, resented the software development standards imposed by the DoD, which they felt violated the principle of professional judgment. In addition to highlighting the role that software standards played in debates about professional independence, this story also calls into question the image of a monolithic military-industrial complex. The ultimate failure of the military to get its way reflected, in part, the growing independence of software developers from the military market.

PrePrint: The AEG-Telefunken TR 440 Computer: Company and Large Scale Computer Strategy

Computer development was started in 1957 by AEG-Telefunken. Besides process control computers, the large scale computers played an eminent role. 45 TR 440s were installed, summing up to more than $ 250m by 1974. Nevertheless, computers were not a strategic product of AEG-Telefunken, in spite of the excellent technological position the company had, and in spite of the governmental support which the company and its products got. TR 440 development was confronted with substantial difficulties, conceptional and technological, and lack of qualified personnel and suppliers. Nevertheless, at its start in Bochum, TR 440 was the fastest computer ever designed in Europe, with system software features far ahead of the competitors. Constantly, the company had been searching for business partners; after an interlude with Nixdorf, the large scale computer activities were sold to Siemens, which ended the investigations on a TR 440 successor.

PrePrint: State support for the expansion of UK university computing in the 1950s

Fifty years ago a major injection of government money allowed six UK universities to purchase commercially produced computers. Prior to this only the universities of Cambridge and Manchester, pioneers in the design and construction of computers, had installed machines. Thus the new funding facilitated a very significant increase in computing resources for science and engineering research. Using archive sources, I explain the respective roles of two government agencies, the University Grants committee and the Advisory Committee on High Speed Calculating Machines. I set out the process by which universities were invited to bid for funding, discuss the universities' responses, and examine the rationale for certain universities being awarded grants while others had their proposals rejected.

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing - July-September 2009 (Vol. 31, No. 3)

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing